Farming practices

Our Farm operation will benefit the planet, consumers, our family and employees, the community and investors.

 

Planet:  We have and will continue to rotate intensive cover cropping and green manure crops into our rotation.  This sequesters carbon and feeds the soil food web which in turn feeds our crops.  We use only organic practices on our farm and are restoring our acreage from several years of conventional corn on corn farming.

 

Consumers:  Our customers will benefit by eating our nutrient dense garlic and produce.  By feeding the soil, we feed our plants which feed our customers.  Recent studies are pointing to the relationship between the human micro biome and the soil micro biome.  Nutrient rich living soil produces nutrient rich produce.

More information can be found here: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/7/9/287/htm

 

Family and Employees:  We seek to enrich our lives and the ones around us through this farm.  We intentionally work with our children, employees and extended family to involve them in farm activities whenever possible.  Employees are compensated well.  We also desire to live in tune with nature and be present in the cyclical ebb and flow rhythm of farm life.  We want to establish a business with long term income generating stability.

 

Community:  We seek to give back to our community in meaningful ways beyond our produce.  Each year we have donated 10% to Charities. 

In 2020 we were able to donate 238lbs of garlic scapes and 106 lbs of fresh garlic to Food Rescue of Northern Michigan!  Our church (Watershed Community) helped to clean the fresh garlic so that it could be donated.  We all had so much fun that we are planning to do this event annually!  We also gave financial gifts to Father Fred, Watershed and purchased a “Farm Kit” for refugees through Preemptive Love.

 

Investors:  (its just us!) One of the reasons for investing in this farm and ourselves came out of the Great Recession.  We were reminded how volatile markets can be.  The COVID-19 outbreak is also causing markets to plummet and swing.  Food supply is now a primary concern as consumers empty shelves.  A shift to cooking at home and shopping local AND online has happened and is here to stay.

In the words of my Great Grandpa Ray “People gotta eat”

Food and farmland will continue to rise in value as our global population increases and cities expand.  Farmland that is managed with regenerative practices will be exceedingly valuable as climate change continues to influence how we manage our farm resources.

We believe that in the long run, investing in regenerating our soil and producing nutrient dense food will win out.